Espresso, Chocolate and Ginger Pudding Cake

Coffee coffee coffee is mainly what I have been consuming these past few days, all in the name of research you see! De'Longhi set me a challenge to create a dessert, using their Vintage Icona Bar Pump coffee machine. Unfortunately when you work shifts for a living, fitting blogging and trial runs around can be a challenge in itself, and I found myself Saturday night priming the machine and making a few test espresso's, Bedtime was very late that night!

After mastering the machine, which is far easier when you have read the instruction booklet before the quick start guide its amazingly quick to product the perfect espresso! There is the option of single or double filtered, both which produce a beautifully smooth espresso in moments. I have also used the espresso to make my favoured americano coffee and have been very impressed by the results.

Preparing the coffee - I am learning to just slightly under fill it as otherwise I can't get it to clip into the machine:

The perfect Espresso - 

So now the coffee was mastered, it was on to making something sweet with its results! I did have ideas of creating a somewhat fanicer dessert than cake but then reality reminded me that all my cookery books are currently boxed up ahead of moving house at the end of this week, and the fact is fancy desserts are not really an area I am experienced in. The other challenge was that most of my cooking items were also boxed up, and I had to take my ingredients over to my mums house in order to bake so I had to be relatively organised with my planning for once!

When doing my planning, I started by writing down a few ideas, then deciding what flavour's work well with coffee, I.e. dates, chocolate, cream, cardamom, rum, ginger....and allowing for my current circumstances what was going to be achievable! Mum was in the kitchen helping me to decide and sniffing the selection of ingredients, ginger is not the best one to sniff!

Cake is something I don't think you can go too wrong with, and I decided to go along the lines of a pudding style of cake, baked in a dish rather than an iced type of sponge. One of the thoughts was sticky coffee pudding, rather than sticky toffee but I couldn't decide on whether to make a seperate sauce or bake it in the style of a self saucing pudding... I wanted to get the espresso flavour really into the cake, and soaked the dates for a good few hours in freshly made espresso, before incorporating it all into the mixture. The final result was a surprisingly light and moist cake, with a nice, smooth espresso flavour, compared to a coffee cake, which has an entirely different taste. 

Ingredients:

225ml freshly brewed single espresso

100g ready to eat dates, chopped up

150g Self raising flour

175g butter or margarine

Butter for greasing dish

25g good quality cocoa powder - I always use a Polish one

3 eggs beaten

1 tsp baking powder

100g cinnamon infused sugar (from Sainsbury's)

1tsp ground ginger 

Start by soaking the chopped dates in the espresso for at least two hours

Pre-heat oven to gas 4

1) Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy

2) Mix together the dried ingredients

3) Using a handwhisk or similar, add a third or so of the egg to the butter mixture, followed by about a third of the dried mixture, mix and repeat until fully incorporated.

4) Fold in the dates, reserving the soaking liquid

5) Butter the baking dish - I used a large rectangular pyrex dish, roughly a4 sized

6) Fill the dish with cake mixture and smooth over. Pour over the reserved liquid and bake for 55 minutes, or until the sponge bounces back. It should be moist inside but cooked through

7) Portion up and serve with lashings of custard or cream

Mum loved the cake, I think I would make a teeny bit sweeter next time but that's because I have a sweeter tooth!

New in my kitchen this week...well actually in the dining room!

Those who know me, know I like flowers. Pretty flowers. Though they do die off far to quickly and you end up left with a stinky vase and spending a good afternoon scrubbing it if like me you have neglected it for a few days... I will never be a domestic goddess and therapy has taught me that I am perfect just the way I am... the next best thing for me is anything flowery patterned...and my tablecloth from Dunelm Mill is simply quite perfect!

The pattern comes from a range called Homestead, and I had previously bought a seat cushion in the range for my office chair (ha office..more like desk / dressing table/ stationary storage etc in my bedroom, and I love it!) So when the nice pr lady for Dunelm Mill got in touch, I decided to extend to my small range and chose the 'Homestead' tablecloth, to go on my dining table. Though this is my old dining table...once again I have restless feet and am moving house again next week! I am starting to resent having so many cookery books...

Here you can see it underneath a rather delicious Cappuchino cake my super mum baked for my birthday! (And yes they are Christmas crackers...we are a special family!)

So back to my lovely tablecloth- its really good quality. It consists of a thick cotton and polyester blend, which has been treated with 3m Scotchguard and claims that stains will simply wash out without any pre-treatment. Despite having my brother over last week for dinner, it remained fairly unblemished so I will find out at some point in the future how true this claim is! (I am sorry dear brother if you read this but I never got any of those wine stains out of the previous tablecloths!)

Many thanks to Dunelm mill and Jennifer from Diffusion PR for all your help.

What's in my Nutribox?

I am a self confessed snacker, and pretty much have always been. Working shifts can play havoc with my appetite, which I also use as some justification to the amount of chocolate and snacky things that end up in my basket, much to the chagrin of my dentist! Despite managing to eat quite full meals I still manage to snack my way through the day happily on whatever is quick and easy, varying from rice cakes to secret stashes of fudge!

However I am always on the lookout for more healthier snacks and recently I was contacted by The Nutribox about trying one of their boxes of healthy snacks - it didn't take me long to reply yes please! Its a very easy to use site - you simply choose your box size, and whether you want it at the beginning or middle of the month either as a one off or on subscription. Each box is packed full of a mixture of fruit and nut selections, snacky bars and even treats such as chocolate! 

My box had a mix of raw chocolate bars, snack bars and dried fruit and nut mixes - and all are delicious so far!

The first product I tried was an 'Choc Crisp Energy Bomb', during a recent night shift. Normally by about 5am I feel myself flagging and the blood sugar depleting, and so I tucked into it at about 5.15am and waited to see...by 7.30am I felt sorry for my patients because I was very perky and still full of beans! The only downside was realising I had eaten it a little too close to the end of my shift and then had to sleep...! Will time it better next time! I was surprised how much natural energy it gave me and how well it kept me alert, in comparison to my usual strong black coffee!

I've also had a few nibbles of the 'Ombar' dark chocolate, with hints of cranberry and mandarin. Its delicious, smooth but nicely bitter and despite my initial wariness following my revulsion at eating some raw cacao a few years back at a food festival, this was a very pleasant surprise! You only need a small piece to to feel that lovely chocolatey buzz, so my dentist might be more happier next time....!

One of my fruit mixes was pleasingly called 'Hot Cross Bun' and consists of sultanas, cranberries and hazlenuts, which is a delicious little snack mix.

Many thanks to The Nutribox for my box, its delicious and very useful!

Brie Stuffed Mushrooms with Balsamic Courgettes

Firstly, whilst I've been cooking an awful lot, I've not been really photographing, yet alone making notes, and so in turn the blog has become a little redundant... Over the past few months, my circumstances have evolved for the better, I have completed a course of therapy to help my understanding of me better, and as a result things I used to needlessly prioritize have changed.

I made this delicious recipe up months back, if I recall correctly after Christmas, when we had a glut of brie leftover and my dad bought me a tray of gorgeous flat mushrooms over. Its since been patiently sitting on my 'to post' list. Not sure why I hadn't gotten around to it but like life but finally it is here!

Looking back, I think my blogging became an outlet of sorts, maybe even escapism from a situation where I didn't feel my cooking was appreciated, and allowed me to vent and I suppose seek opinion and reassurance that what was I making, was infact good/ edible etc! Whereas now I know whilst its not always perfect, I can cook well, even quite brilliant at times and I am more accepting of my strengths and weaknesses. Not just in food, pretty much everything in my life really.

I can honestly say, that to anyone who has gone through the ugliness of crippling anxiety and depression - you have my upmost respect and sympathy. Its only when you look back and realise just how many corners of your life that it had crept into, how much power it had over you that you find out how strong you really are, and can start cutting back those weeds, until they eventually clear. Then its a case of the odd sprinkle of weedkiller to keep it at bay. If you ever feel like you might be in the same position - please do seek help - its nothing to be ashamed of!


So getting back to the one that has remained a passion of mine - the food - its been a love hate relationship at times but this was definitely love! The brie goes oozingly meltingly lovely against the earthy mushrooms and it makes a perfect lunch for one, two or more.


Ingredients:
2 heaped tbsp fresh breadcrumbs
6 leaves purple basil (regular will be fine too!)
A small wedge of brie
2 large flat mushrooms
Spray oil

1 courgette
½ tbsp. balsamic vinegar
S&p



Start by preheating the grill, spay the mushrooms with generous chunks of brie, pack with breadcrumbs and season with salt and pepper, and add a few torn up basil leaves.



Spray liberally with oil and grill at medium-hot for approx. 10 minutes or until bubbling and golden.

Meanwhile, for the courgettes, slice into 1cm chunks. Pan fry in a little oil over a moderate heat to get some colour on - they should still have some bite to them, season with salt and pepper, swirl in about a tbsp. of balsamic vinegar to coat, serve immediately alongside the mushrooms.

Anne's Kitchens new Cafetiere

Coffee is one of life's essentials for me! Even though I do the occasional battle with acid reflux nothing gets between me and my caffeine, I am a firm believer in everything in moderation and providing I stick to small quantities  the stomach behaves just fine! 

Whilst I normally like the higher end instant coffee's, sometimes I just like to relax back and make a proper cup of ground coffee. Previously I had a rather old cafetiere which had seen better days and I had been eyeing up smaller versions to replace it with, when Bodum gave me opportunity to try one of their models. After perusing the website for some time debating what would suit me best, I fell in love with a pretty little red number with the rather cute name of Bean!

Since Bean's arrival, it has firmly earned its place and whilst being advertised as a 3 cup - that means small espresso cup sized, alternatively I get one large one mug out of it and buzz for a few hours! My cafetiere is perfectly sized for making coffee for one and we are both very happy together!

A really great feature is the heat sealing lid, as I am rather forgetful and it keeps my coffee piping hot until I remember its sitting waiting for me in the kitchen! It also doesn't drip either, resulting in less mess, always a good thing!

Perfect coffee with a lovely slice of homemade upside down pear cake:

Many thanks to Bodum!

Coconut Buns

One of my favourite ingredients in baking, is coconut. I just adore the sweet, nuttyness and most of bakes seem to end up with a handful thrown in! These babies are no exception! Everyone loved them, to the point this is their own picture as they mysteriously vanished! They are similar in flavour to coconut macaroons but just a little more cakey, and delicious in their own right. My brother suggested rice paper for next time...trouble is I can just eat that stuff and it probably wouldn't hang around long enough!

When my beloved Nanny J passed away, I inherited some of her well worn cookbooks, and I spotted this recipe some time back within a copy of Farmhouse Kitchen, which apparently was in connection with a TV series circa 1978 and consists of recipes sent in by viewers. I love to flick through it, snagging ideas and wondering as to how much my nanny might have used the book too. There are no pictures, which sometimes isn't a bad thing as you can interpret how you like without fretting that its doesn't look like the picture does!

These buns were super easy to make, and the cherries were my addition, and a good one too as they make the buns a little more attractive and lets be honest, who can resist the lure of a sticky sweet glace cherry?

When I went to bake these, I was also mid making a lemon sponge for my mums birthday, but fancied something coconutty and quickly whipped these up alongside, they are pretty much weigh, mix, splodge onto  tray and bake!

Makes 16

100g self raising flour

100g desiccated coconut

75g caster sugar

100g margarine

1 beaten egg

8 glace cherries, halved

Pre-heat oven to 190o/ gas 5

1) Mix together the dry ingredients, using fingers rub in the margaraine to form smaller lumps, as in the style of making pastry.

2) Use a fork to beat in the egg and mix thoroughly.

3) Blob the mixture onto a baking tray, allowing a little room in between and top with the cherries

4) Bake in the top part of the oven for 10-15 minutes or until cooked and lightly golden. They took about 14 minutes in mine, be careful as they go from anaemic to sun tanned quickly!

I am also sending these lovely buns over to Bookmarked Recipes held by the Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes